Members of music scene fighting back against Trump

Members of the local community are making an effort to raise money for organizations combating against the Trump administration’s immigration policies. The Department of Justice’s “zero tolerance” policy (under Attorney General Jeff Sessions) has led to children of undocumented immigrants being separated from their families, as well as more aggressive prosecutorial actions against illegal entries. And local artists are doing what they can to aid organizations that are fighting back.

Local darkwave group Hexa announced that they’d be donating a portion of the band’s merch sales and money earned from shows in June to organizations aiding immigrants affected by the policy.

“This cruelty is fucking mind blowing,” the band says in a statement on Instagram. “Please use your voice, your money, your vote, everything at your disposal to put this to an end.”

The Whistle Stop is also lending a hand by donating a portion of its proceeds from DJ Claire’s Unwind Yourself Happy Hour on June 23 to the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES).

Local label Volar Records is also donating all proceeds of one week’s worth of sales to the ACLU and the RAICES. It’s not the first time that Volar owner Craig Oliver has used his platform to benefit organizations helping groups negatively affected by Trump administration policies. Back in November 2016, a week after Trump was elected, Volar had taken similar steps to use its platform to raise money for the ACLU and Planned Parenthood. And this is just another way in which Oliver says he wanted to use whatever opportunity he could to work against the Justice Department’s harmful policies.

“With everything we’ve learned this week, it was clear that the ACLU, in its ability to go after the government and its vile policies, and RAICES, in its efforts to provide free or low-cost legal support to refugees and immigrants, could both use every little bit of financial support they can get,” says Oliver. “It seemed too easy a chance to at least try and help in whatever small way I could.”